


Gabriel's Apprentice

by Geeky_Genius



Series: Gabriel's Apprentice [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien being a dork, Adrien has his first sleepover, F/M, Family Bonding, Friends to Lovers, Gabriel isn't Hawmoth, Gabriel notices, Gabriel tries to be a better dad, Marinette being a good friend, Marinette is very talented, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 06:05:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13229586
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geeky_Genius/pseuds/Geeky_Genius
Summary: It wasn't often other designers created works that sparked his curiosity. He had seen a few works from Marinette Dupain-Cheng in Adrien's class which piqued his interest. He made a point to look out for her other creations, and found evidence he had gathered pointed to a clever, talented girl who he should most definitely be keeping an eye on.





	Gabriel's Apprentice

**Author's Note:**

> AN: At the start Marinette is 13. In this Gabriel is not Hawkmoth and Adrien is still cursed at being annoyingly oblivious. I started writing this little prompt a few months ago, however my mum made my formal dress from scratch, which gave me some more inspiration for this little piece. Another month later and it has somehow turned into a chapter story, which is rare for me. Anyway, enjoy!  
> Disclaimer: I don’t own miraculous ladybug. A good thing too, as my writing schedule is pretty spotty.

It wasn’t just her design that impressed him, but her cleverly hidden signature and the way she handled herself after such accusations had been laid against her. Since winning that design contest, Marinette Dupain-Cheng had been on Gabriel Agreste’s radar. He tuned in when he heard his son mentioned that Marinette had designed her own dress for their class celebration evening. He kept the newspapers that mentioned how miss Dupain-Cheng had designed warm winter vests for Chat Noir and Ladybug to wear over their costumes. Not only had they looked a part of the Hero’s suits, but they were flexible and breathable to not hinder them during combat. The evidence he had gathered pointed to a clever, talented girl who he should most definitely be keeping an eye on.

 

Marinette was NOT READY for the spotlight she was about to receive. She was proud of what she had achieved, and secretly had already tested her vest to make sure it wouldn’t restrict her or Chat Noir during a fight. She had a plan on how to be both Ladybug and Marinette at the reveal of the Winter designs, however she still paced back and forth in her room, glancing at the clock every ten seconds. Alya was sitting on her bed, rolling her eyes. She lunged from her comfy position and grabbed Marinette’s arm, pulling her to sit on the bed with her.

“Girl, pacing isn’t going to make you any less nervous,” Alya laughed, pulling Marinette into a hug, “I’ve worn Chat Noir’s vest, and it’s so cosy I made the penguins at the zoo jealous. I know it’s way before we need to be there, but let’s start walking now. Then there’s one less thing to worry about!” Alya pulled Marinette to her feet, grabbing the opaque plastic bag containing the vests as they flurried out of the room. Marinette squawked as she reached for her bag with Tikki in it, barely managing to grab it as Alya rushed down the stairs.

“Bye Maman!” Marinette called out as they rushed out of the store, giggling as they ran. Around the block, they stopped for a moment, bursting into giggles. It felt like they had accomplished some daring escape, running from Marinette’s nervousness. Marinette smiled at Alya, still unsure but better than before. They looped their arms around each other and skipped the rest of the way to the park.

The park was empty save for an old lady walking her dog and a small group of children playing tag. Marinette climbed onto the statue of Ladybug and Chat Noir, and put the vests on the statues as best she could, even if it meant fitting only one arm through. Alya clapped and whistled from behind her, making Marinette’s cheeks colour with pride. As soon as Marinette had jumped down from the statues, Alya placed her at the foot of the statue for pictures for the ladyblog. Marinette’s eyes were aglow, even though her cheeks were still red. Alya was giddy from excitement, and after what seemed like hours the mayor arrived with the press. Alya gave Marinette a quick thumbs-up before retreating into the gathering crowd, leaving her alone beside the statue as Mayor Bourgeois walked up to her.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng,” The Mayor shook her hand, “It is my delight to present your wonderful designs to Paris’ own superheros. Would you like to tell us about how you managed to design these warm vests so they wouldn’t inhibit our heroes?”

Marinette took a deep breath. She turned to the crowd and looked Alya dead in the eye. She breathed again. In, two, out, two. She spoke. Designing was her forte. Questions rained forth, but nothing could shake her. She knew this. She knew her designs, the process, and why she chose what she did better than she knew Adrien’s schedule. The designated thirty minutes of questions passed by without Marinette taking note, and soon she was being clapped off the stage, the crowd searching the sky already in anticipation of Chat Noir and Ladybug’s impending arrival. Their distraction allowed Marinette to sneak off and transform. Ladybug emerged from her hiding place and jumped onto a nearby rooftop, easily spotting Chat Noir. He nodded at her in greeting, before springing down into the excited babble of onlookers. Ladybug smirked as she ran and leaped, landing exactly where she had stood not five minutes ago.

The crowd was in an uproar. The vests were carefully lifted from the statues and handed to her and Chat Noir, who eagerly slipped his on and began to parade around like he was some kind of model. Ladybug rolled her eyes at his antics, as he blew kisses to the crowd as he twirled around, finally coming to a stop kneeling before his lady. He reached for her hand, and she begrudgingly let him kiss it, but snatched it back as soon as acceptable. She then did a few little twirls for the crowd, before she and Chat Noir sprung back onto the rooftop where they had met earlier that day, doing acrobatics all over to test the limits of their new accessories. There weren’t any problems, although she had known that already. They were perfect.

Marinette woke the next morning to her mum shaking her to get up and dragging her downstairs. She walked like a zombie down the stairs and to the table, until she saw the newspaper that was laying on the bench. Her eyes widened as she jumped up and down, squealing. Her face, both Marinette’s and Ladybug’s, front page beside an article about her designs. If she died then, she would have been happy. A few blocks away, staring at his morning newspaper, Gabriel Agreste did not smile when he saw the workmanship clear even through the low-quality photo. His eyes however betrayed his carefully constructed façade, crinkling at the sides in respect. It wasn’t often someone else created exciting new works worthy of his critique. Miss Dupain-Cheng would definitely be someone he would keep his eye on…

 

The class Christmas celebration evening was to be held at Le Grand Paris. Chole was buzzing with excitement, glad to be able to show off her superiority. Sabrina flittered around nearby, double-checking everything from the buffet table to the bouquets of balloons. Nino arrived during her final check, heading over to the DJ booth they had set up for him. In moments music filled the space, bringing life to the empty space. Like puppies drawn to a scent more members of the class began to stroll in. Straggling behind was Marinette and Alya, the latter proudly sashaying in front of Marinette, hiding her dress. Just before they reached Adrien (and Chloe who was glued to his side), Alya sidestepped into a bow. Her face was beaming, totally pumped for her best friend to blow Adrien’s mind.

Marinette was wearing a short, white dress covered in varying sizes of red and green polka dots. It was fitted until her waist, which was marked by a bold red line. The skirt had large pleats (good for dancing in) and was flared out at a 30-degree angle. The top part was all white, with a hand-stitched winter scene – featuring silver trees and a family of deer on the back – sparkling in the light. It was light and happy, and got all of them in the mood to party. Adrien stood, smiling softly as he let everyone gush over her creation. Chloe was still attached to his arm as he closed the gap between them in just a few steps.

He didn’t compliment the dress. The way his eyes and mouth seemed to be smiling in sync told everything. It was almost as if he knew Marinette would be hyper-aware to his every expression. Alya let out a ‘squee’ nearby as Adrien offered his hand not glued to Chloe. To her credit, Chloe did not huff as she walked off, even though she now felt alone at her own party. Her woes were soon mended (slightly) as Kim mock-bowed in front of her, smiling at her like Adrien used to. She would be loath to admit it, but Chloe was glad for the distraction. She swayed with Kim, paying too much attention to his eyes as she tried to ignore the placement of Adrien’s hands on Marinette. If she stared longer than probably acceptable it was simply due to selfishness on her part. She was using Kim as a distraction. She felt nothing as he looked at her like a queen, obviously enjoying her company. When Kim pulled her a little closer, it was only her selfishness that let him. (Or at least, that was what she told Sabrina later on).

 

Adrien had plenty of photos of Marinette in her dress (courtesy of Alya snapping as many pics as possible of them dancing). He was slightly surprised when his dad asked to see them, however he supposed his interest in monitoring his friends wasn’t new. He did seem to spend more time with Marinette lately. However, he didn’t expect his father to ask him to invite Marinette over for dinner. He stood with his mouth open in the hallway for a good minute, incoherent noises spilling out. Despite his confusion, Adrien (rather hurriedly) agreed, leaving to his room to call Marinette. His father hadn’t ever asked him to invite friends over before. Perhaps he might even let Marinette stay for a sleep over! Her parents were consulted and the date was settled. Friday night. Adrien was practically bubbling over in anticipation. He had the feeling this would be awesome.

 

The Friday night dinner had gone so well that it became a bi-weekly event. At the 4th dinner, Marinette brought over some of her parent’s pastries for dessert, and his father consented to let Adrien have some! Marinette had become a hero in his eyes, someone even more incredible then his Lady (although his Lady would always have a special spot in his heart). The conversations at the dinner table became more interesting, and sometimes they remained long after the food was finished. After dinner Gabriel never stayed, leaving Adrien and Marinette to their conversations.

Adrien could never recall when exactly they transitioned from the dining room to his bedroom, always so absorbed in whatever they were debating his feet just moved of their own accord. Once they were in his room, they often ended up in some sort of battle, whether it be ultimate mecha-strike or Mario cart. Occasionally Marinette would bring over books to study together, although even then her parents still showed up at 9 o’clock to pick her up. Adrien didn’t mind. He saw what a good relationship Marinette had with her parents and never wanted to be the one to strain something that precious. Nino would probably tease him a bit for being too touchy-feely, but Adrien valued relationships too much to care. But when one Friday night, instead of the doorbell, Marinette’s phone pinged loudly, Adrien was curious. Marinette’s face lit up as she read the message, handing her phone over to Adrien to see.

‘There is a bag and spare pillow by the door. We’ll be bringing croissants over for breakfast at 7am. 

Adrien almost threw Marinette’s phone across the room with the speed his arms encircled her, pulling her into a fierce but short hug. After his initial excitement, he placed Marinette’s phone gently down on the table before racing downstairs, Marinette close behind him. In the foyer they ran into Gabriel, who simply handed over Marinette’s pillow, stating ‘he didn’t want it to get dirty on the ground’. Marinette thanked him with her carefree smile before racing up to his room again. Adrien followed behind with her duffle bag, his father giving him a small nod as he ascended the stairs at a more subdued pace. Adrien thought his cheeks were going to look sunburnt he was so happy. He tried to calm down as he walked the last few steps to his room, but as soon as he saw Marinette working busily on a blanket fort in front of the TV his cheeks were fully red again. Seeing his nervous excitement, Marinette dragged him over to help her, happily showing Adrien the ropes of traditional sleepover activities. It was going to be a long night filled with secretive giggles and spontaneous pillow fights.

It was 3am and Adrien already knew that he loved sleepovers. Their pillow fort had been destroyed half an hour ago after their third pillow fight, which had gotten rather intense. Right now they were both simply lying on the remains of pillows scattered on the floor as they watched ‘Ouran High School Host Club’. Adrien allowed himself to show his dorky side, parodying some of the corny lines with overdramatic actions. Marinette found it hilarious, giggling until she got too tired during episode 4. 

Despite not having much sleep, Adrien still woke up at 6am. For once he resented his body-clock, but he still went to have a shower before Marinette woke up. He needn’t of worried, as even when 7 rolled around she was conked out on the floor surrounded by pillows. Sabine and Tom weren’t worried, and Tom was chuckling to himself as he went with Adrien to his room to try and rouse her. Sabine stayed down in the dining room with his father as they waited for his Princess to show up. It had taken 20 minutes, even with Adrien helping Tom to piggy back the still-sleeping Marinette, but eventually she was in the dining room. She woke up while they were coming down the stairs, almost falling off her father’s back in surprise. Luckily Adrien was there to support her back, holding her up until she was coherent enough to grab on herself. 

Breakfast consisted of many small croissants with different fillings. Adrien had to consciously stop himself from drooling as he selected an almond and chocolate croissant and a plain one to have with jam. It was perhaps the first time since his mum had disappeared that his father didn’t read the morning paper at the table. The atmosphere was filled with joyful conversations and laughter (although Adrien could tell it was somewhat subdued to what it normally was like for the Dupain-Chengs, it was a massive improvement for the Agrestes). Nathalie looked startled for a moment when she first walked in, however quickly gained her composure and went over the schedule with Gabriel as usual. Breakfast had stretched out longer than usual but Adrien still found himself not wanting it to ever end. But as Adrien waved goodbye from the front door, he felt energised for the day ahead. It didn’t matter if he had a long photoshoot at 10:30am. He had had some of the most amazing days ever. Adrien couldn’t wait for next Friday. 

Early February was when the rumours started up. In hindsight, it might have been his fault. He had been rather enthusiastic when talking to Nino about his first sleepover. Someone must of overheard him mention the Friday night dinners and the news of it quickly spread through the class and eventually to the press. The front-page story on February 14 was an in-depth article on Adrien Agreste’s secret girlfriend. His father had acted his normal neutral self at breakfast, and so it wasn’t until he arrived at school that he found out about the article by a hoard of girls shoving it into his face. He bolted away, hiding in a corridor he wasn’t sure he had ever been in before. After a few minutes, he checked to see if the coast was clear before stealthily moving to the classroom. He slid in, closing the door behind him, only to be faced with Chloe and Alya glaring at him (for different reasons). Adrien groaned inwardly, at least he didn’t have fencing this afternoon and could retreat straight home.

**Author's Note:**

> What about poor Marinette? All will be reavealed next chapter


End file.
